Washington Lawyer - November/December 2024 - 27

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
dividing it into two areas. One is future planning,
involving the drafting and execution of
documents and other beneficiary designations
to plan for an individual's potential incapacity
or death. The other is assisting friends and family
members in the settling of an estate after
a loved one has died.
" Right now, I'm in the middle of developing a
two-part training series for potential volunteers
on probate, " says Scheel. " We're building up the
volunteer pool, advertising, and starting to get
responses from members of the public. "
Scheel also helped launch the Pro Bono Center's
Probate Legal Assistance Network (PLAN)
in collaboration with Legal Counsel for the
Elderly and the DC Affordable Law Firm. PLAN
attorneys assist District residents with brief
advice and services on a part-time basis in D.C.
Superior Court's Probate Division Self-Help
Center.
" We are available for people who walk into the
self-help center [with] a particularly complicated
case, or [who] just need some guidance on
the probate process and how to fill out particular
forms, " Scheel says.
ACTIVISM SHAPED BY CRISIS
Scheel is no stranger to supporting clients
in crisis. When he came to Washington, D.C.,
unsure of what he wanted to do professionally
after dropping out of Princeton Theological
Seminary due to burnout, he ended up volunteering
with the Whitman-Walker Clinic " during
the very dark days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. "
" When I started working there, I was trying to
get a sense of direction in my life, " Scheel says.
Born in a small town in Ontario, Canada, Scheel
moved to the United States with his mother
when he was nine years old and mostly grew
up in Springfield Township, Pennsylvania, right
outside of Philadelphia. His studies in religion
and philosophy allowed him to view the world
and its problems in different ways.
" I was fascinated with questions of ethics and
religious history, " Scheel says. " I was - and still
am - a Christian and an Episcopalian, but with
a strong appreciation for Buddhism and various
other traditions. "
At the Whitman-Walker Clinic, Scheel's background
in ethics, philosophy, and religion
sparked a flame of activism inside of him. " Because
of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, I thought that
it was morally necessary to be supporting other
gay men, lesbians, and other people who
were struggling with HIV, " Scheel says. " It was
important to be out because it was about honesty
and availing myself of the opportunity to
do good. "
He thought about attending law school, but
" all the lawyers I talked to at the time said, 'Do
not go to law school. You will hate law school,' "
Scheel recalls. " It was a very dark time then for
the legal profession; there were a lot of layoffs.
All my friends across the hall in the case management
department said, 'Go to social work
school. You would be a good social worker.' "
AT HOME WITH LAW
Contrary to warnings by former colleagues, law
school was enjoyable for Scheel. " It was very
stressful, but I really enjoyed it, and I have never
regretted becoming an attorney, " says Scheel,
who attended the George Washington University
Law School at night between 1999 and
2003. " There have been good days and there
have been disastrous days. But overall, I have
loved every bit of it. "
I liked the challenge
of figuring out rules
and regulations, and how to
make them work for our clients
rather than against them ...
That kind of work was very
rewarding.
Scheel took their advice and attended the University
of Maryland School of Social Work in
Baltimore between 1993 and 1995. Afterward,
he worked for seven years at Community Connections
in Washington, D.C., where he was a
case manager for adults with chronic mental illness.
He later managed Social Security benefits
for the organization's clients.
" I liked the challenge of figuring out rules and
regulations, and how to make them work for
our clients rather than against them, " Scheel
says. " That kind of work was very rewarding. "
Scheel soon discovered that when it came to
navigating the legal minefields of Social Security,
Medicaid, and Medicare benefits for Community
Connections' clients, many of his colleagues
were " deer caught in the headlights. "
" It was just not their thing, " Scheel says. " I struggled
with fitting into that world professionally.
So, I decided to go to law school. "
After passing the bar exams in the District of
Columbia and Maryland, Scheel clerked for the
late D.C. Superior Court Judge Noël Kramer
from 2003 to 2004 and for D.C. Court of Appeals
Judge Vanessa Ruiz from 2004 to 2005.
From there, Scheel ventured into civil litigation
at the firm Karp, Wigodsky, Norwind, Kudel &
Gold, P.C. from 2005 to 2013.
" I did soup-to-nuts civil litigation, plaintiff side, "
Scheel says. " We helped people in a range of
cases, from medical malpractice to workplace
injuries. It was a fantastic experience because it
gave me the opportunity to learn the litigation
process from case investigation through discovery,
trial, settlement, and verdict. I worked
with outstanding people and had some great
experiences. "
Scheel's larger goal was to apply his legal skills
to benefit the LGBTQ+ community. That led
him to Whitman-Walker Legal Services in 2013.
" I also was interested in public policy work.
I had the opportunity to work in that sphere for
about a year, " Scheel says, referring to his tenure
at Justice in Aging.
Now, with two decades of experience under his
belt, Scheel has no regrets switching gears from
social work to law. " My training and experience
as a social worker are enormously valuable in my
practice of law, " Scheel says. " Law schools don't
teach a good understanding of the process of
helping a person. There is almost nothing more
subtly complicated than the helping process,
which is about ... not taking on excessive responsibility,
communicating your expectations,
and being engaged in that process in a way that
is going to be successful for the client as well as
oneself. "
Reach D.C. Bar staff writer John Murph at
jmurph@dcbar.org.
Know an outstanding D.C. Bar member you'd
like us to profile in an upcoming issue? Pitch
us at editorial@dcbar.org.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024 * WASHINGTON LAWYER 27
Washington Lawyer - November/December 2024

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